This homemade summer citrus soap recipe contains a citrus inspired natural essential oil blend of peppermint, orange and lemongrass. Formulated to be both cleansing and conditioning, this natural soap works great at tackling sweat and grime without over drying skin.
Because I have hard water and dry skin throughout the winter months, I’ve been formulating a lot of high conditioning/low cleansing soap recipes. However with the arrival of spring and the heat of summer on the way, I thought I’d create a new soap recipe with extra cleansing power. After all, real women sweat – even if we don’t like people to know about it.
Recently I’ve been dating a guy originally from the deep South. His name is Greg. He found his way to Roanoke by way of Florida on to Georgia then South Carolina. Now he’s here. He’s a carpenter now by trade. So he tends to get dirty. As such, he was super psyched about me making a homemade soap that tackles tough grit, grime and sweat. Me? well I’m psyched he actually uses homemade soap and not some surfactant infused body wash. (If you’re a soapmaker then you understand my dilemma entirely.)
Greg calls this homemade soap recipe the Florida Gators soap. To be quite frank, I don’t follow sports. And I have absolutely no idea what sport the Gators play. What I do know is that orange is their color. And seeing as how Florida is the sunshine state, Greg thought it fitting to scent this homemade soap with a blend of orange and citrus.
Where my sports education is lacking however, I was properly schooled on Jacksonville, where Greg attended college. The culture of which was all readily explained via a Katt Williams comedy show at the Florida Theater.
Shop for Handmade Artisan Soaps on Etsy.
But I digress. I made a sweet summer citrus soap recipe with natural essential oils – which is the point of this entire post. Greg helped me make it and rather enjoyed the process. (Hooray! It’s always nice to have a new partner in crime, isn’t it? Also my dog loves Greg and to me, that kind of says everything.)
So, as they like to say, without further ado, here is my summer citrus soap recipe for your soapmaking pleasure. I hope you enjoy it!
Summer Citrus Soap Recipe with Natural Essential Oils
Ingredients:
.8 oz. castor oil (5%)
4.8 oz. refined coconut oil (30%)
2.4 oz. jojoba oil (15%)
2.4 oz. mango butter (15%)
5.6 oz. pomace olive oil (35%)
4 fl. oz. distilled (or filtered) water
2 oz. lye/sodium hydroxide
1/8 teaspoon red iron oxide powder
1/8 teaspoon yellow oxide powder
.15 oz. peppermint essential oil
.15 oz. 5-fold orange essential oil
.25 oz. blood orange essential oil
.35 oz. lemongrass essential oil
Dash of petitgrain essential oil
Soap Notes:
As my summer citrus soap recipe doesn’t yield a particularly hard bar, I used a steep water discount. The water weight for this recipe is 25% of the oil weight. Additionally the super fat is 6%. While the essential oil weight is 5% of the oil weight in this recipe (based on recommended usage for these essential oils in cold process soap.)
You can use this information, if desired, to resize my summer citrus soap recipe using a lye calculator. Or to make changes to the super fat or water percentage. Learn more about using a lye calculator to adjust a homemade soap recipe or to craft your own custom homemade soap recipes with the information found in this tutorial.
Getting Started:
Begin by gathering the materials you’ll need for this soapmaking project. You will need a digital scale, a digital thermometer, an immersion blender and this 6-cavity silicone mold. Additionally, you’ll also need aluminum free, heat safe containers and utensils for mixing your soap.
You should also take necessary safety precautions when working with lye. If you are unfamiliar with making cold process soap, I recommend this soapmaking tutorial to get you started. I also offer several beginner soap recipes to try before attempting this soap including this beginner soap recipe and my palm free olive & babassu soap recipe.
Instructions:
Begin by preparing the lye solution for my summer citrus soap recipe. To do this, measure out the distilled water into a heat safe container. In a separate container, weigh out the lye called for in the recipe. Then pour the lye into the water – I recommend a well ventilated area – and mix until the lye has completely dissolved. Now set the lye-water solution aside in a safe location to cool.
While the lye solution cools, weigh out the soapmaking oils and the mango butter. Combine in a stainless steel pot. Then gently heat the oils and mango butter on the stove over low heat just until the mango butter has melted.
Remove the soapmaking oils from heat and allow to cool.
In the meantime, measure out the colorants for my summer citrus soap recipe. Then weigh out the essential oils and combine in a small glass beaker.
Once the oils have reached 90°-95°F you are ready to make soap.
Check the temperature of both the soapmaking oils and the lye solution before you begin. Both of these ingredients should be within ten degrees of one another.
Now add the red iron and yellow oxide colorants to the soapmaking oils. Mix briefly with an immersion blender to incorporate the colorant throughout the oils.
Next, pour the lye solution into the soapmaking oils and mix with the immersion blender until you reach a light trace. You’ll know you’ve reached trace when you drag the blender through the soap batter and it leaves a visible trail behind. It’s a little like pudding.
Add the essential oils to the soap batter, then continue mixing until thoroughly combined.
Once you bring the soap to a medium trace, pour the soap into each of the cavities of your mold. Then gently cover the soap with plastic wrap or parchment paper.
Set the soap aside for 24-48 hours. After this time you can unmold your summer citrus soap bars.
Allow your soap to cure for four to six weeks in a cool, dry location. After that, your homemade soaps are ready to use.
Get Creative with My Summer Citrus Soap Recipe
Once your cold process summer citrus soaps have cured, you can get creative! I was able to use one bar of my summer citrus soap to make three round orange slice soaps.
To create your own round soaps that resemble orange slices, cut one bar of the summer citrus soap in half lengthwise. Then cut each half into triangles. Set aside.
Now cut a block of clear melt and pour soap base into chunks. (The amount you use will depend on how many soaps you plan to make as well as the size of your mold’s cavities.) Combine in a Pyrex measuring cup or another heat safe container. Melt in the microwave in 20-30 second increments, stirring after each heating.
Once the clear soap base has completely melted, add a yellow liquid soap colorant to the base until you reach the desired color. (Or you could also use a liquid blue soap colorant. Go Gators!)
If desired, add a fragrance or essential oil of your choice. (I used blood orange essential oil for this step at 2% of the soap weight.) Then stir the soap to incorporate the fragrance evenly throughout the soap.
Now pour a small amount of the melt and pour soap into three cavities of a round silicone mold. Then spray the soap with isopropyl alcohol to remove any air bubbles.
Next, place the triangle soap embeds you made from the summer citrus soap into the soap you just poured. Arrange the embeds as desired.
Once the melt and pour soap base is firm – you don’t want your embeds to shift – spray the soap again with isopropyl alcohol. Then pour the remaining melt and pour soap base into the same three cavities of the mold. Fill the cavities to the top of the mold, then spray again with isopropyl alcohol to remove any air bubbles.
Once the soap has fully hardened, remove the soap slices from the mold. Then, if desired, you can bevel the edges of the soap using a potato peeler. Now simply wrap your soaps tightly in food service film to store until use.
More Homemade Soap Recipes
If you like my summer citrus soap recipe with natural essential oils, then you may also want to try my homemade blood orange soap recipe. Made using blood orange essential oil and orange powder, this summer inspired soap is painted with mica for a fun, fresh appearance.
Some of my other favorite homemade soap recipes include the following:
- Homemade Apple Donut Soap Recipe
- Natural Shaving Soap Recipe with Lanolin
- Aloe Vera Soap Recipe with Neem Oil
- Yogurt & Banana Soap with Flax Seed Oil
- Homemade Green Tea & Turmeric Soap Recipe
- Green Apple Soap Recipe with Apple Powder
- Coffee, Cocoa & Egg Soap Recipe
- Pine Tar Soap Recipe for Problem Skin
- Luxury Double Butter Soap Recipe
- Homemade Coffee Soap Recipe
Or simply explore all my cold process soap recipes here. Alternately, you can find my melt and pour soap recipes here.
You can also find more homemade soap recipes by way of my DIY Bath & Body Pinterest board and my Simply Soapmaking Pinterest board. Or, if you’d rather purchase handmade soaps, you can discover a collection of my favorite handmade artisan soaps on Etsy here.
Don’t forget to stay in touch!
For more homemade bath, body, beauty and soap recipes, be sure to find and follow Soap Deli News across all of your favorite social media platforms including G+, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Blog Lovin’, and Instagram as well as subscribe to Soap Deli News via email for future updates, DIY projects and recipes.
or 
to the soapmaking oils just before adding the lye-water will add further skin conditioning benefits. Another fun alternative would be to add a small amount of 
which has a similar SAP value and soapmaking properties without having to recalculate the lye. However, if you are resizing this soap recipe and subbing the palm oil with lard you’ll want to run it back through a lye calc just to be sure.
